BY J. H. MAIDEN. 541 



through circumstances beyond the collectors' control, is appall- 

 ing, and has much militated against botanical research. I feel 

 so strongly in the matter that, except under special circumstances, 

 I would abandon presses for island collecting. 



The collector will find a cheap box of paints indispensable, in 

 order that he may indicate, in his note-book, the colour of flowers, 

 fruits, tfcc. I need scarcely point out that knowledge of drawing 

 is unnecessary in this very important matter. 



Reference has been chiefly made to the following works : — 



Seemann, B. — " Flora Vitiensis," 1864. 



Gill, W. Wyatt -" Jottings from the Pacific," 1885. 



GuppY, H. B. — " The Solomon Islands and their Natives," 1887. 



It will be observed how similar are the Funafuti and Samoan 

 names for the same plants. Several of the Funafuti names are 

 believed to be recorded now for the first time; it is believed 

 also that this is the case with some of the Samoan names. 



Kai-kai is a term used for food both here and in the Solomon 

 Islands, but Guppy (p. 91) states that the term has been intro- 

 duced by traders. 



The following note is useful to be borne in mind, as one must 

 be cautious in making assumptions as to the use of any plant in 

 any group of islands : — 



"This leads me to remark on the singular fact that the 

 inhabitants of one Pacific group are often unacquainted with, or 

 make but little use of, sources of vegetable food which in other 

 groups afford a staple diet " (Guppy, p. 90). 



List of the Plants collected, 

 CRUCIFER^:. 



Cardamine hirsuta, Linn. — " Atasi," known as "A'atasi" in 

 Samoa. 



This may be the plant called C. sarmentosa by Hedley.* Both 

 C. hirsuta and C. sarmentosa are, however, recorded from the 

 South Sea Islands. The description of C. sarmentosa in both 



• Op. cit. p. 39. 



